WASHINGTON – An American soldier jailed in Russia last week empathized with Russia’s view of the war in Ukraine and repeated Moscow’s talking points decrying NATO in videos posted to his Russian ex-girlfriend’s TikTok account.
“I think NATO is pretty aggressive,” Army Staff Sgt. Gordon C. Black, 34, told an online audience in a video featuring his then-girlfriend Aleksandra Vashchuk. “Honestly, I understand Russia’s position. Obviously, they want to defend their country.”
Black was arrested May 2 in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok — near Russia’s borders with North Korea and China — on charges of “theft of personal property” after traveling to the US adversary nation to visit his former squeeze, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told The Post Tuesday.
Black made the trip to Vladivostok after finishing his tour of duty working as an Army trainer in South Korea on April 10. He was supposed to leave the foreign base directly for his next duty station in Texas, Smith said.
“Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, [South] Korea through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons,” she explained. “Black did not request official clearance and [the Defense Department] did not authorize his travel to China and Russia. Official and leave travel is currently restricted pursuant to the DoD Foreign Clearance Guide.”
It is unclear whether Vashchuk influenced Black’s pro-Russia stance or whether she was part of a “honeypot” scheme targeting the married staff sergeant.
The Army has opened an administrative investigation “to determine the facts and the circumstances” of Black’s trip, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Tuesday.
There was no further information about the nature of the allegations against Black nor is it clear who made the report.
Black’s wife, Megan, told The Post Tuesday the couple are still legally married, but are finalizing a divorce.
The military spouse declined to comment further, saying: “Please give me and my family privacy.”
Black’s statements on foreign policy echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regular claims in propaganda that the NATO security alliance encroaches on his country’s ability to defend itself, as well as his false statements that Moscow has a historical right to the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
Vashchuk expressed a similar sentiment in the TikTok post.
“It seems like NATO has not only gone to Ukraine, but also to America and to Korea. It seems like he should be taken to the trash,” she said, apparently referring to her American soldier boyfriend then stationed in South Korea.
Black was also critical of President Biden, and agreed with Vashchuk’s statement in the video that “Trump is better” in videos first reported Tuesday by Radio Free Europe. The soldier further blamed Biden for the tensions between the US and Russia, saying relations were “definitely better under Trump” in a video featuring the pair.
“I just don’t — [Biden] doesn’t handle situations the way you should,” he said. “And I think that’s one of the bigger reasons why things are the way they are now.”
“And it’s not just with Russia, like you can see it with other countries too,” Black added, citing poor US relations with China, another American adversary.
In many of the videos, Vashchuk treated Black harshly, calling him names and teasing him in both English and Russian. In one, she complained that TikTok removed a previous video she’d posted of Black, which the social media platform said violated its community guidelines with ‘”scenes of humiliation,” according to Radio Free Europe.
In the scene referenced, Black gifts Vashchuk an iPad — while she reciprocated with a simple pair of socks.
In another video, Vashchuk filmed Black as she asked him to say “Russian Victory Day” in Russian before turning the camera back to herself.
“Happy victory day, everyone!” she said in Russian in the video. “Today we are going to torture Americans and Germans.”
Vashchuk referred to Black as her “husband” during another clip in which Black repeated some Russian curse words. Wearing a T-shirt with the words “I don’t give a f–k” in Russian, she repeatedly called Black “crazy” and jokingly wondered where he learned the profanity.
She then described a scenario in which Russian soldiers would consider executing him if he were to say the swear words.
“They would say, ‘Maybe we should kill him? Maybe he’s ill?'” she said in Russian.
Black has been in the Army for more than 15 years, enlisting as an infantryman in 2008, Smith said. Black had deployed to Iraq from October 2009 through September 2010, and to Afghanistan from June 2013 until March 2014.
He will remain in pretrial detention until at least July 2. If convicted, Black could face imprisonment in Russia for up to five years.
Additional reporting by Jennie Taer
A previous version of this article had Aleksandra Vashchuk named as Aleksa Viktorovna, the name she goes by on her TikTok account, which uses her patronymic middle name.
